Real-time waiting information in Scunthorpe A&E

People attending the emergency centre (A&E) at Scunthorpe hospital can now see real-time waiting information.

A new digital screen has been installed displaying information about how many patients are in the department and of those how many are waiting for an assessment, how many are receiving care and how many are waiting to be admitted to a ward.

Waiting times are split by the severity of patient’s injury/illness as follows:

Immediate medical attention

Potential threat to life

More serious/may need admission

Walking wounded/minor

Very minor.

Karen Ayscough, department manager, said: “We regularly receive feedback from patients and their families that they want to know how long they’ll be waiting to be seen. We are a very busy department and patients are treated in order of urgency rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.

“While we do our best to keep people informed verbally, this new screen will help to improve the experience for patients as they’ll be able to see for themselves the current waiting times giving them realistic expectations as to how long they’ll be waiting for.”

There were 70,919 attendances at Scunthorpe emergency centre during 2018, an average of 194 a day.

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